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How to Use the wget Command to Retrieve Your Public IP Address

If you’ve ever needed to find your public IP address quickly from the command line, one handy method is using the wget command along with a simple web request. Here’s how you can do it:

wget http://ipinfo.io/ip -qO -

What Does This Command Do?

Let’s break down the components:

  • wget: A powerful command-line utility used for downloading files from the web.
  • http://ipinfo.io/ip: This URL returns your public IP address in plain text when accessed.
  • -qO -: The -q flag makes the output “quiet,” meaning it suppresses all non-essential messages from wget. The O - flag tells wget to send the output to the standard output (your terminal) instead of saving it to a file.